Dear Mom,

I really enjoyed General Conference. At the Union City chapel, they brought a TV into the Relief Society Room and transmitted it in English. All the other Elders were there along with some members who speak English and wanted to hear it in English. We weren't too packed into that room. When Elder Christofferson came up to speak as the last speaker, it was cool to say that I met him! It was even cooler when he started quoting from Les Miserables! Now I want to see that play again.

I can't remember where, but I remember hearing about that thing for Jurassic Park. I thought that that would have been something cool to see.

That would be super cool for Kyle to do an Eagle Project for my mission!

That's so cool for Kelsie! When does she get back? I'm not going to be going to the temple in the month of June. That would be way cool to run into her. But the JFK airport is so far away from New Jersey. From what I remember, JFK is pretty far from Manhattan as well. How long is her layover in JFK. Where does her flight go after JFK? I'm super excited to hear about her trip!

I'm excited for Kyle and a foreign language. That'll be cool to see what he wants to do. Has he said anything yet on if he wants to take a language?

That's super sad to hear about the Quiznos. That's good to hear about Roy and him opening up a new shop. I wonder how that will go. I guess there's no more stress about Quiznos anymore. I can't wait to try Roy's new store. Keep me updated on how that goes. Do you know when it's supposed to open? Is it going to be pretty similar to Quiznos?

Well, I can't wait to see everybody again! That's funny to hear about Linda! We've got a good family!

So last Monday, we visited a family in our ward. The Martinez family from Mexico. They're a great family. The dad was Bishop just for a couple years until a family problem came up and he was released. It wasn't his fault at all. I think if that problem hadn't come up, he would still be Bishop right now. He's in the High Council for the Stake now. Half the family is somewhat less-active. However, they just had their son return from his mission in Brazil. His name is Brian. He's way cool. He took us out to eat at a small Peruvian restaurant between the two Saturday sessions of Conference. Unfortunately, he has to leave again in two weeks to start a job in Minnesota. He's going to sell security systems, knocking doors! Haha. He's not looking forward to it to say the least, but it pays well. He's been a great help, because many, many less-active members love him. He would be a great help in activating some members. So we're trying to work with this family and helping some of them get more active in the Church. It's kind of hard sometimes. But I love that family. They absolutely love the missionaries. Every time we go over there, the dad always says, "Have you already eaten? Do you want something to eat? Something to drink? We have gatorade. We have juice." Then we say, "We're okay. We're not hungry." Then he says, "Are you sure? I can go grab something really quick. It's just down the street. It's no problem." Then we say, "No Bishop. We're fine. Thanks!" Then he asks us if we're sure again. We always end up drinking some gatorade though. We have to accept something they're offering! It's a great family! I won't forget them.

Then on Wednesday, we found an amazing guy. I told dad the full story because I thought that he would enjoy it more. So we found a guy named Andrew. He's only 26 years old and he's worked in Afghanistan in the Special Operations. While he was serving there, his humvee got hit by a bomb. He was sitting on the top, so he was blown from the vehicle about 30 feet. When he got up to go back to the humvee, he was shot twice in the chest. He had on his bullet proof vest, so it didn't hurt him too bad. It did break some of his ribs though. When he fell to the ground after that, one of his ribs punctured his lungs. He had some other crazy experiences. Something else happened to him last year and he can't walk without a cane. He's really cool. He's from Puerto Rico. He speaks English mostly, but he is native Spanish. We didn't share too much with him. Tomorrow we're going to teach him again.

On Friday, I had a training for District Leaders at the Mission Home. I always love going to the Mission Home. It's the only place that feels closest to home. It's nice and peaceful there. It's an actually house with it's own yard and driveway. It's just really nice there. We had a little training from President Jeppson on how to be better District Leaders. Then they fed us lunch. Spaghetti. It really tasted like a home-cooked meal. I like Hispanic food, but I really like American mommy meals sometimes too. It's always so great to see President and Sister Jeppson.

Later on that evening, we went to go see a returning member (from less-activity) family. It's a mom of two girls (11 years old, and 15 years old), and their grandmother. We watched a couple of those bible videos about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Those are pretty cool videos. I wish I had time to watch them all. Do you know if they've compiled all those into one movie?


Q of the W:

1.  When you watched Conference, where did you eat between sessions?  Did they have food at the church?

We had a special mission fast after our evening meal on Saturday until after the final session on Sunday. But between sessions on Saturday, Brian Martinez took us out to lunch.

2.  How is your camera lately?

I haven't had time to go look for a cord. I haven't been able to take pictures.

3.  Have you been writing in a journal?

Yes I have. I'm about a week behind, but I'm keeping up on it.


I have a couple questions:

I remember that we had the piano music to a song called "The River Flows in You". That's a song on a CD that another Elder has. He can play it on the piano. If you could find that, could you send it to me. I'd love to learn it!

Also, how do you know if Clorox has chlorine in it? I want to start using bleach on my white shirts. The tag says that I should use a non-chlorine bleach. I don't know how to find that. I think that during the summer, the sun and heat does more damage to white shirts. They might start turning yellowish....


Love you mom! Talk to you soon!

-Justin